Now you can spend the night in a former French billionaire’s residence in the French countryside. Built in 1016, the family-owned Domaine des Etangs has just opened up sumptuous guestrooms to guests. The chateau used to be Didier Primat’s holiday hideaway in the Poitou-Charentes region, three hours southwest of Paris. (It’s located about halfway between Limoges and Angoulême.)
As recently featured in The Wall Street Journal magazine, Primat’s daughter Garance has devoted the last seven years (since her father’s death) to transforming the estate into a vacation retreat. In its new life as a hotel, the Domaine des Etangs has seven suites, seven cottages, a restaurant, and “Roman thermal baths” nestled on 2,100 acres. The chateau is decorated with both family antiques and contemporary finds, and the rooms feature many historic features (like exposed timber beams and stone).
Showcasing vegetables from the on-site garden and beef from the estate’s cattle, the restaurant is helmed by chef Fabien Beaufour, former executive sous chef at Eleven Madison Park in New York. A spa will open next year on the estate.
Photos courtesy of the Domaine des Etangs
